


Give Me a Shot

by ScarlettWallflower



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: High School AU, M/M, Mentioned Gerita - Freeform, first date au, spamano - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-05
Updated: 2018-12-05
Packaged: 2019-09-11 23:47:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,611
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16862284
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ScarlettWallflower/pseuds/ScarlettWallflower
Summary: Angst-ridden punk kid and Mr. Popular Soccer Team Captain on a date? It goes better than you'd think. Spamano high school AU





	Give Me a Shot

**Author's Note:**

> Cross-posting in case tumblr falls even deeper into hell than they already are. I apologize for this title. 
> 
> Charlotte- Belgium  
> Henrique- Portugal
> 
> In anticipation of admittedly fair criticism, if it seems like the two of them are moving way too fast: yes I agree as far as a traditional romance arc, but having been in my share of relationships as a teenager, getting attached quickly and moving way too fast is par the course.
> 
> P.S. I would love love love some comments. Ya girl does this for free and needs some validation

“This is gonna be a fucking nightmare,” Romano muttered, trying to hide his face from view, lest anyone should see him in public and making a fool of himself.

“Aw come on, bro,” Feliciano, ever the optimist, admonished. “Just give this a shot. If you don’t like him, you never have to talk to him again. But I think he really likes you. He wouldn’t have said yes otherwise.”

“Yeah, he probably talks about how much he wants to shove my head in the toilets at school.”

“No, it’s good things! He likes you. He likes the way you dress and he thinks you’re really smart from the way you talk in class.”

Romano’s only significant interaction with Antonio had been their shared history class last year, during which they had been assigned as partners to work on a big research paper.

True, Antonio hadn’t done anything particularly atrocious and granted, Romano hadn’t hated spending time with him. But that didn’t negate the fact that Romano was an outcasted punk kid with a shitty attitude and Antonio was captain of the soccer team and resident school golden boy. There was also the trifling little detail that Romano did not want to be here tonight when he could be out causing generalized mayhem with his friends and forcing Romano to do anything he didn’t want to typically had exceedingly negative consequences for whomever he considered to be the perpetrator.

“I don’t want to go on a date with Antonio.”

“You’re already here though. Just try to have fun.” Feliciano’s eyes took on a malicious glint and he said in his usual sing-song tone, “If you really don’t want to go out with Antonio, I can call Gilbert instead.”

“What?”

“Gilbert likes you too. He told Ludwig who told me. I want to go on a date with Ludwig and Nonno says I’m too young to be on a date alone. So either you go on a date with one of those two boys or I’ll tell Nonno about that you and your friends wrecked the car drag-racing. Your choice!”

Romano stood there staring, unable to believe that Feliciano was considered to be the sweet and innocent one.

“You’re a little rat bastard.”

Feliciano just grinned because he knew he’d won.

“But you’re going straight home after the movie’s over and you’re finding your own way home.”

“Ooh, will you and Toni be going out somewhere else after the movie?”

“I don’t care what Antonio does but I’m gonna get drunk with Arthur and Lukas.”

Feliciano sighed. “I wish you wouldn’t.”

“What do you care?” Romano snapped. “Go to your stupid movie.”

“But Antonio’s not here yet!”

“Yeah whatever, just go get cute with your boyfriend.” Romano impatiently shoved his brother in the direction of Ludwig and, shoving his hands in his pockets, stalked off to the side of the lobby.

Romano scanned the area with a frown on his face. The fact that he had to be here at all was irritating enough but that his little shithead of a brother had blackmailed him into being here with the reigning douchebag of the school, who couldn’t even be bothered to show up on time, was going to give him an aneurysm.

Finally, a familiar head of curly brown hair appeared in his line of vision and Romano slouched down in his chair.

Antonio looked around for an exasperatingly long time, though Romano wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of waving at him. Antonio might get the wrong idea. As if he was actually happy to be participating in this travesty!

When Antonio saw Romano, he smiled and jogged over.

“Hey Romano sorry I’m late. My mom needed me to do something before I left the house and then there was an accident out on Rexford-”

“Alright, alright, let’s just go.” Romano stood up and began walking in the direction of their theater.

“Do you want something to eat or drink?”

“No, I already paid an arm and a leg just to get in here, I’m not paying extra for stale popcorn. Now come on. You already made us miss most of the previews.”

“Well, actually, I thought I would pay for both of us-”

Romano stopped, turning on his heel. “Do you wanna make me late for this movie I paid for?”

Antonio looked taken aback, probably not used to be spoken to that way. Romano held back a grin, relishing his small victory over the high school hierarchy.

But just as quick, Antonio smiled apologetically. “You’re right, I’m sorry. Let’s head in.”

It didn’t take long for Antonio to catch up with Romano and begin a steady stream of chatter.

“You know, I was really excited when Gil texted me and told me you wanted to go out with me. You look great by the way.”

“Yeah, I’m sure it’s a real ego boost for you,” Romano grumbled.

Antonio gave an easy grin. “Sure. I mean, who wouldn’t look good next to you?”

Romano fixed him with a blank, sour look.

“Are you saying I’m ugly and everybody looks good compared to me?”

Antonio’s put his hands up in surrender. “No no! I meant, you’re really good-looking and cool, so you make the person going out with you look good too.”

“You’re a real wordsmith, you know that?”

“Ah…”

“Never mind.” Romano flung the door open. “Get in there and don’t make me wish for the sweet release of death even more than I already do.”

Antonio’s eyes got wide and he raised his eyebrows. “Uh, are you okay?”

“No, go sit down.”

The movie passed with relative banality. Romano sat with his elbows propped on his knees, leaning far out of his chair and away from Antonio and studying the screen. Antonio, for his part, kept glancing from screen to Romano and looking uncomfortable.

Once the lights had come back on, Romano stood up, stretching and said, “Alright well, that was… that was a thing and now it’s over and we can both move on with our lives and never speak of it again. I’m gonna consume enough booze to make me forget all my problems, including this night, and you can go and do… whatever it is Antonio’s do. Good? Great! Talk to you never.”

Romano began to stride off but Antonio grabbed his arm.

“Wait hold on, Romano.”

Romano glared at Antonio.

“What? What do you want from me?”

“I want to spend time with you.”

“Why the hell would you want to do that? Look, I don’t care if you wanna tell people you scored with me or something. You can be the school stud and I can be a notch in your bedpost. Let’s just be ourselves, separately.”

Antonio’s face took on a hurt look and it made Romano’s heart falter.

“If you really hate me, then tell me and I’ll leave you alone for good. But I want to try. Can we please give it a real shot?”

Romano was facing the biggest conflict of his young life. On the one hand, this was akin to putting his pride in front of a firing squad. But then again, this might possibly be the only chance he has to get laid in this town and Antonio certainly hadn’t been hit with the ugly stick. And, alright, he did sort of like Antonio’s easy-going vibe in contrast to his admittedly high-strung personality. Maybe this could work…

Finally, in what might have been a moment of weakness or perhaps divine providence, Romano sniffed and said, “Fine. Sweep me off my feet, Don Juan.”

As was to be expected from the purview of a teenage boy, Antonio’s solution was to drive them out to the nearby creek, park the car on the roadside, and walk the rest of the way to the water.

When they reached the creek bank, Antonio set down an old blanket he had in the back seat of his car and Romano sat down and made a noise of displeasure in his throat.

“Yeah, cause, you know, mosquitoes and West Nile Virus are romantic as fuck, Toni.”

Antonio sat down cross-legged beside him. “Romano, it’s winter. There are no mosquitoes. Just relax and enjoy nature.”

“Is that your way of saying you didn’t have anymore money for a date?”

Antonio heaved a long-suffering sigh. “Romano.”

“It was a joke! Alright, alright. I’m one with nature. Hey, when did you get to be such a boy scout yourself?”

Antonio shrugged. “My grandparents in Spain have a farm and we used to go there pretty much every summer. My abuelo thinks it’s important for a man to know the land and he tried really hard to get me and my brother to be like that. It never worked with my brother, he hates the outdoors, but I always liked nature. I actually was a boy scout for several years too.”

Romano smirked. “Why does that not surprise me?”

Antonio smiled, stretching his legs out and leaning back on his elbows.

“It was fun. Gilbert was in my scout troop, that’s how we met. I did it until the eighth grade, and then I made the travel soccer team and I got too busy. I was pretty good too. Made it all the way to Life Scout. That’s the second-highest rank.”

“Hmm, so does that mean you can pitch a tent in and outside of your pants?”

“What?”

Romano snickered, “Nothing. So, am I the first person you’ve taken out here before or is this Antonio’s Guaranteed to Get to Third Base At Least Makeout Spot?”

Antonio chuckled, lying flat on his back and moved his hands to rest on his stomach.

“I don’t have a makeout spot. What kind of guy do you take me for?”

“The school stud.”

Antonio laughed out loud, sudden, like a stack of dishes breaking. He tugged Romano’s shirttail and held out his arms. Not quite ready to let Antonio have the satisfaction of falling into his arms and ending the chase so soon, Romano scooted closer to Antonio and rolled onto his left side. Antonio responded with his own act of defiance by guiding Romano’s head down onto his chest. Romano considered resisting but ultimately reneged, deciding this actually felt kind of nice.

Antonio snorted. “No way. I’ve had a couple flings but nothing more than kissing. I’m a good catholic boy after all.” He fixed Romano with a cheeky grin. “I’ve never actually had a relationship before.”

Romano lifted his head slightly. “Hold on, I thought you dated a bunch of people. What about Charlotte and Francis and…?”

Antonio shook his head, reaching out to run his hands through Romano’s hair.

“I never dated Francis. I guess I can understand why people thought that, but we’ve been best friends since pre-school and nothing more. I did date Charlotte but I figured out I was gay pretty quickly and we just decided to be friends. I’ve dated a few people but it’s never…” Antonio huffed.

Romano kept his face pressed against Antonio’s shoulder, feeling his heart beating and his stomach slowly rising and falling as he breathed.

It wasn’t even a sexual thing (okay maybe a little) but it was in that moment that Romano was hyper aware of how lonely and starved for human contact he was.

Antonio was a nice guy, delightfully weird and funny. Easy to talk to and hard to put up walls around. Romano wanted this. He wanted to see Antonio again and again. He wanted to fall in love with him.

There was a funny choking sensation in his throat and before he could stop himself, the waterworks started up again. Romano let go of Antonio’s neck and tried to bring his hands up to wipe at his eyes.

“Ah shit, I’m sorry.”

“No, no, baby don’t be. Are you okay, is there something wrong? Should I stop?”

Romano sniffed and tried to verbally respond but the lump in his throat silenced him and he shook his head against Antonio’s shoulder.

“No please don’t let go.”

“I won’t baby.” Antonio wrapped his arms even tighter around Romano’s waist and put his chin on top of Romano’s head.

Romano gave a weak chuckle and said, “Sorry I don’t mean to cry. Just been a long time, you know?”

“Yeah. It’s been a long time for me too.”

Romano wiped at his eyes impatiently. “Been a while since you’ve had a catholic schoolgirl down here, huh?”

Antonio’s smile was weak and bitter. “I meant more like my family. My older brother, he died in a car accident last year. It ruined my family. My dad left and now my mom doesn’t even talk to me besides yelling at me. Henrique was always her favorite, but now she just acts like she hates me and I’m the reason she’s miserable.”

“I didn’t know that,” Romano muttered, ashamed he’d just assumed Antonio didn’t have any problems because he was popular at school and acted carefree.

“I don’t remember my dad, he left while my mom was still pregnant with my brother. And she’s… got a lot of problems. She kinda goes in and out of rehab but we never really see her. My grandpa raised my brother and I and he’s great but we don’t always get along that well. I think it’s cause I remind him of my mom, the way I act and everything. I-I’m not saying all that to one-up you or talk over you, just… yeah…”

They were both silent for a minute. Romano turned away from Antonio to wipe his eyes on his arm then readjusted his grip, gently scratching his nails against the nape of Antonio’s neck.

“I like you a lot and to be honest, it kind of scares me,” Romano said. “But nobody’s ever made me feel like this before so I want to at least try. You know, as long as I didn’t freak you out with the crying.”

This time, Antonio pulled away slightly. Romano felt his stomach drop in fear until he felt Antonio’s fingers pulling his chin up so they were nose to nose.

Antonio smiled. “You didn’t freak me out with the crying.”

“Oh good. I promise it doesn’t happen often.”

“Actually, I thought it was sort of cute. Not that I want you to be sad, but normally you act all tough and kind of like a punk at school. It’s nice to see a different side to you.”

Romano scanned Antonio’s face for any signs of deception and, finding none, allowed himself a tentative smile.

“Yeah you too.”

Antonio’s face lit up with hope and Romano smirked, reminded of a puppy.

“Can I kiss you?”

Romano laughed, feeling some of the tension and nerves leave his body. Then he leaned forward and closed the gap between them.

The kiss lasted longer than expected and Romano wondered briefly if that was a sign he was doing it right. It was sweet, made of a hope for happiness that Romano hadn’t felt in a long time. It was his first.

When they finally broke apart, Antonio made a happy, humming noise and squeezed Romano. He picked up both of Romano’s hands and held them.

“Can we be together? Is it too soon to ask that? I don’t care. I don’t want you to date other people, just me. Oh I bet that sounded kind of possessive. I’m sorry I just-”

“It’s fine, I understand. And yeah, I want that too.”

Antonio stared into Romano’s eyes, his expression warm and confident. And Romano, for the first time in a very long time, gave him a reckless, real smile.


End file.
